OLYMPICS-Stay-at-home Londoners expected to temper tourism boost

July 26, 2012|Reuters

By Tom Bill

LONDON, July 26 (Reuters) - Londoners scared off by direwarnings of transport chaos will likely cancel out any revenueboost from increased foreign visitors to the city's West Endduring the Olympic Games, the landlord of large parts of thetourist district said.

Shaftesbury, which owns 330 shops and 217restaurants, bars and cafes across areas like Chinatown, CoventGarden and Soho, in a neighbourhood also home to London's"theatreland", said warnings of disruption to road and tubeservices would convince many locals to stay at home.

"For weeks we've had stories of where to avoid, whichpotentially puts up a barrier in people's minds that parts ofLondon are no-go zones," chief executive Brian Bickell toldReuters on Thursday. "People won't go to the theatre if they areworried about getting back home afterwards."

As part of preparations for the Games, which begin onFriday, organisers have blocked off road lanes for the exclusiveuse of athletes and officials and set traffic lights to stay redfor longer, which has already caused traffic nightmares.